Track assemblies employed on track-type vehicles, such as tractors, require periodic disassembly for repair purposes. Such repair includes turning or replacement of worn bushings, the repair or replacement of seals employed in the articulated joints of the track assemblies, and a rebuilding or replacement of worn track link rails.
It is common practice in carrying forth the latter rebuilding process to remove a link assembly from the track shoes of a track assembly and position it in a link welder where flux is applied and welding heads build-up the rail surfaces of the track links with a hard metal alloy. This procedure requires a substantial amount of space due to the overall length of the required machinery, requires a substantial number of shut-off patterns for the link welder, a further requires the handling of a substantial quantity of flux.
In addition, the articulated joints of many track assemblies employ pin and bushing assemblies of the sealed and lubricated type therein which include rubber or plastic seals. In processes wherein the pin and bushing assemblies are left intact during welding, the seals employed in such assemblies require protection against the heat generated during the welding process. This protection is normally accomplished by either providing suitable heat dams or water beds to prevent damage to the seals.
In processes wherein the pin and bushing assemblies and seals therefor are removed prior to the welding process, a positioning fixture is normally provided for the individual track links to hold them in position while rebuilding their rail surfaces on a submerged arc link welder, for example. The latter type of fixture requires a considerable amount of manual handling of the track links and thus renders the welding procedure laborious and somewhat uneconomical. Furthermore, these type of fixtures do not lend themselves to the efficient storage of the track links of a particular link assembly.